Mismatched Socks
by formerlyknownasone
Summary: He had the worst taste in socks, Katie often told him. That's weird though... She wears the same socks as him. KBOW oneshot. Just giddy sent Oliver on a holiday and he's back. Fiji's not that great after all.


**HELLO HELLO HELLO. A KBOW story just for you guys. This story is a little rough around the edges, but I hope you will enjoy (and review) anyway.**

**Just giddy sent him on a holiday... So I decided to bring him back. Fiji doesn't seem to agree with him that much after all. MUHAHAHAHA...**

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He had the worst taste in socks, she often told him.**

Looking down at the pair of woolly stockings that currently adorn his feet, Oliver Wood had to admit Katie Bell wasn't too far from the truth. Who on earth would own something that had multi-coloured quaffles with purple stripes on it?

They were a total bargain though. It cost him less than _two sickles_ in Gladrags Wizard Wear.

Then again, he probably shouldn't have paired it up with another lacy sock that was _pastel_ pink with shiny stars.

So he had the worst taste in socks, and his petite little friend did little to hide the truth from him. Nevertheless though, Katie Bell and him still remained the best of friends, and she continued to riffle through his drawers and steal his socks every morning. It was fine with him though, he liked sharing things with her.

He had been staring at his feet probably for a minute or two now, and would have spaced off even longer if another pair of feet didn't suddenly get into his line of vision. One foot had ridiculous purple stripes, and the other a girlish pink, oddly similar to a pair of feet he had been staring at just now. Oliver looked up.

" Katie," he greeted enthusiastically.

The blond girl, however, waved him off and did not reply. Instead, she flounced to his side and plopped heavily on the grass, just beside the lake. Her cheeks were flushed as she lay on the ground flat, closing her eyes, not caring if the grass had gotten into her hair or on her fraying uniform.

" Tough detention," she explained.

Oliver considered what she said. Snape's detention_ were_ always exhausting, he had been through a couple of them himself. Then again, she was always getting herself into trouble, though she usually found a way to wheedle herself out, like the little charmer she was.

Instead of chiding her as usual though for landing detention, he decided to let it be. After years of knowing her, he knew it was futile to try to get it across her thick head not to hang around with the twins so much. He blamed it naturally on Fred and George for influencing Katie _too much_, with all those wild pranks. It was his fault really, for introducing them to her.

Her eyes were still closed. Detention that day must have been really tough. It usually took a lot of effort to get all the crazy energy out of Katie, and he really meant a lot. She was always zesty, full of enthusiasm, bubbling like a cauldron pot. With her long lashes rimming her eyelids, Oliver decided to content himself by staring at her.

Oliver wondered how someone so incredibly messy and dirty as her could look so pretty. It was amazing, how she could even pull off that look. It didn't really make sense to him, how he could still think she looked incredible even with bed hair and uniform with brown splotches and dirt on her nose. If anything, Oliver thought it made her look better.

His hands unconsciously reached and fingered her golden locks, toying with her soft long hair. One thing though, was that he didn't really like her haircut. Just two weeks ago, Katie suddenly decided that she was going to give her hair a little trim. And so, being the impulsive girl she was, she went ahead without Oliver's advice to chop off her lovely blond tresses.

It had been previously hanging down way below her waist, all soft and silky, where her golden waves cascaded down her back. But now it barely reached beyond her shoulder blades, being cropped to a much shorter length. It was no longer as long as it had been, and somehow Oliver felt something oddly amiss about the new Katie hair-do. He decidedly missed playing with her long strands of hair.

"You are staring at me."

Her eyelids flew open, revealing two bright green eyes as she spoke. She continue to lie on the ground, her soft hair fanning out and framing her face, and for a moment Oliver's mouth went dry, unable to think about anything except how_ pretty_ she was.

Oliver thought she definitely look angellic.

"What are you thinking of?" Katie asked him quizzically.

Oliver decided to go for the honest answer. She was too good at telling whether he was lying or not.

"Your hair," he answered truthfully.

"What about it?"

"It's too short."

Katie rolled her eyes. She had heard this several times from him this week already.

"Please, like I would take fashion advice from someone who can't even match his own socks." She replied, staring openly at his feet, which betrayed the very mismatched pink and purple socks.

"You are wearing the same thing too!" Oliver retorted.

Katie grinned, now starting to sit up. She stretched her feet right out in front of her, just like Oliver himself had done.

Their feet were now together, side by side, looking oddly matching with identical mismatched socks. Funny how cute and _identical_ their feet looked together. Oliver was strongly reminded of his childhood days where his mother tried to make him wear identical clothes with Katie or his brother.

It must be a parent's thing to gush over the cuteness of wearing similar outfits, he guessed.

"We looked like those little children whose parents are always trying to dress their kids in matching little outfits," Katie remarked, voicing Oliver's thoughts. Both of them were wearing their uniform, bright red sneakers and the offending socks, and they probably looked like Siamese twins together.

"Our mums would do that to us, remember?" Oliver told her, shrugging. Katie smiled reminiscently, remembering the old days when they were children and the fond memory of two kids wearing the exact same outfits more than once.

"Ah yes, I would ever forget the day you wore those kilt..." she recalled, unable to keep the evil smile off her face. Oliver glared at her menacingly.

"Don't even try to finish that sentence," he threatened the laughing girl, waging his finger at her. She didn't appear to care about his threat, though she did not speak anymore.

"Now we won't look identical anymore," she announced suddenly, jumping up onto her feet. Oliver looked at her in surprise. With a flourish, she yanked off her shoes, and pulled the ridiculous socks off her feet.

Oliver felt something inside him sank just the slightest bit. He had rather_ liked_ them looking similar somehow.

"Oh," was all he said, sounding disappointed. Was it that bad to dress the same as him? He had rather enjoyed wearing the same thing as Katie. They look... cute and close.

Katie just kept on smiling cheekily at him. "Come on, Oliver! Take your shoes off too and let's dip our feet in the lake!" She yelled to him, grabbing her shoes and she sprinted to the big rock by the glittering pool.

Oliver smiled, and obediently took off his footwear and headed for the stone, perching himself on it as Katie herself had. His feet hung out of the rock, and it reached the cool, lovely water of the lake. Katie however, had more problems accomplishing the same thing. Her feet barely grazed the surface of the water, and she had to perch herself nearer to the edge.

"Careful!" he warned, seeing his friend sitting perhaps a little too near the edge, her skinny legs dangling in the water. Katie was prone to accidents of all kinds, and Oliver often had to watch out for her.

Finally though, she managed to balance herself properly, and her feet finally reached the clear sparkling water. The heat of the evening sun was finally dissipated off with the coolness of the lake water.

"The struggles of a short woman."

"Shut up."

"Admit it, life is painful too be of that height."

"I'm not that short!"

"Face it, you are."

"I am not!"

"I could hardly deem you as tall." Oliver replied, looking down as Katie. It was true, Katie Bell was a short woman and she knows it, to his infinite satisfaction. She could only glare back at him. It was an argument she can't win.

"You are always doing this to me." She pouted at Oliver, sniffing.

"I only speak of facts, dear Katie." He teased.

"And to satisfy your male ego."

Oliver had to admit that was true to a certain extent. He enjoyed knowing the fact that he was towering her, like she needed protection.

"You know, Fred never says I'm short. Perhaps you are too tall for me really." Katie piped up again. "Such a good fellow, old Freddie is. And he always wears such nice _socks_."

Once again, Oliver felt this uncomfortable flip-flop inside him. He didn't know why he suddenly felt resentful to the red hair twin, and envy more than curiosity made him wonder whether Fred liked Katie. More importantly, did Katie feel the same way? He felt unease in him, his thoughts very much disturbed.

"Really?" he asked lightly, trying not to sound strangled.

"Yeah. Angelina is so lucky to have him."

"Oh," he said again, looking visibly relaxed.

They sat in comfortable silence some more, with Oliver watching her dainty small feet draw little circles in the water, choosing to let his own rather large ones remain motionless and admire the feminine pair moving gracefully. And then, as if in a moment of spontaneity, he ruined the whole peaceful atmosphere by sending a splash in her direction, a wave of water hitting her.

She squealed, not anticipating the sudden blast of lake water. In return, she sent a scoop of water in Oliver's direction as retaliation, getting him wet as her. As a result of a fit of laughter, Katie tumbled down into the shallow portion of the lake, pulling him into the lake also. For a couple of moments they both splashed and bombarded each other with the cold water.

"You thought it was funny splashing water at me eh?" Katie mumbled, as they both climbed back onto the rock, drying themselves in the sun.

"Very. Anyway now I can get the dirt off your nose better." Oliver replied easily, rubbing the dull spot on Katie's little nose before giving her an affectionate tweak.

"I don't even want to know how dirty the lake water is. " She muttered, shuddering.

"At least our socks and shoes are not wet."

They were both very wet now, their robes drenched to the collar. Water droplets clung onto her wet hair, which was now limp. Tiny droplets rolled off the tip of her ski-jumped nose as she scrounged it

up, sunning herself.

"You are staring at me again Oliver." She said, not even bother to turn her head as she squeezed the water out of her clothes."

"You look pretty." He blurted.

This time Katie caught his gaze, and flashed him a sweet lopsided smile. Oliver guessed she took that as a friendly compliment.

"Aw. You are just so sweet! This is why you will always be my Oliver." She said, smiling widely now.

_My Oliver_, he repeated in his head. Did she really mean it, or was she just being friendly and affectionate? Was he really reading too much into it? _My Oliver,_ he repeated, liking the sound to that.

"Come on, let's wear back our socks now." Katie told him, yanking on one of the purple striped rocks. Oliver wasn't sure whether it was the one she had been wearing earlier on, or his-- they both looked the same obviously, being from the set of socks. He took the other purple striped one and put it on silently.

There was another pause; it took all Oliver's nerves to speak again.

"I really like your hair before," he told her honestly, almost pleadingly. "I like it that long."

Katie just raised her eyebrows, shaking her mane. She touched her hair self-consciously, smoothing her ruffled hair. " What's wrong with my hair now?" She asked, puzzled.

"Nothing. It's just... I like your old hair better." Oliver didn't really know how to explain why he felt so attached to Katie's old hair. "Tell you what," he said in a sudden fit of inspiration. "Let your hair grow back, and I promise to buy nicer socks."

"No" was all she said. He felt his heart sank again.

"No, because I love the way your socks are... Just the way you are." She whispered softly, gazing at him.

Oliver felt his heart leap, and it began to jump very, very fast. Was there any doubt about it now? Did he venture to do what he wanted to do next? He was usually reserved, and wasn't one who to show a lot of guts or pluck._ Did he dare? _He wondered.

_What if he simply misread the signals?_

It took him a great deal of courage to take the next step, but he was glad he did. Oliver had hesitated, before slowly pressing his lips against Katie's. His heart flipped again in joy as he felt Katie returned the pressure, kissing him softly. His mind felt giddy with intoxication, and his body was enjoying from the sparks of warmth as they kissed.

_She liked him!_

"Why," Katie said breathlessly as they parted briefly, "Do you think I wear those ridiculous socks?"

Oliver couldn't wipe the smile of his face. He had the worst taste in socks maybe, but it didn't matter anymore, because Katie also wore them.

_Oh holly Merlin and Gringott's Globins! She liked him! _He thought, beaming widely at Katie Bell.

"You got to wipe that smile off your face though... It's scaring me," She continued. He didn't care.

Later on that evening, both of them walked back to the castle together, holding each other's hand contentedly, each adorning one purple-striped sock with multi-coloured quaffles, and another pastel-pink sock with shiny stars on it. They were walking side by side, their feet looking oddly matching as they left trails of water behind.

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**I guess it's kind of pointless for me to ask you to review, but I will ask you to do it anyway cos I totally love reviews and if you are reading this message that means I am trying to manipulate you into reviewing so yeah, just press the button and get the misery over with.**


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